Play the WSOP Main Event with me! Part 3 - AVP Strategy
AVP resident poker pro Benton Blakeman goes into hand-by-hand detail for every hand he plays in the 2013 WSOP main event. Part 3: Day 2
This article concludes my three-part series of articles detailing my run in the WSOP Main Event. It includes all of hands that I played during day 2 of the tournament. I took meticulous notes of every hand that I played, logging it all on my iPhone between hands, and I bring them to you here today. Relive my struggles on day 2 as I recap them and discuss reasoning for why I chose the lines that I did. I'll be the first to admit that I definitely didn't play perfectly, but overall I think I played very well and controlled my table like a true pro. With that said, enjoy!
Abbreviation key:
SB — Small blind
BB — Big blind
Btn — Button
UTG — Under the gun (first to act after the big blind)
UTG+X — Player acting X places after the UTG player
HJ — Hijack (two spots before the button)
CO — Cutoff (one spot before the button)
CK — Shorthand for check
RS — Shorthand for raise
CC — Shorthand for a check and then a call after that check
C-bet — Shorthand for continuation-bet (when the preflop raiser makes a bet on the flop when first to act or when checked to)
* — Anything with a * before it constitutes my thoughts post-hand when I thought I needed to describe my thought process and elaborate on my line of play.
Picking up from where article one ended with post dinner break play-
Day 2
Starting Stack 57,950
Level 6: 250-500 with 50 ante
1: CO opens to 1,050, SB calls, I complete from BB with 10-9 off-suit. Flop 10-3-3 rainbow, SB checks, I check, CO bets 1,700, SB folds, I call. Turn Jx. Check, check. River 2x. I check, he bets 3,400, I fold.
2: I open to 1,200 with A-9 off-suit from the CO, button calls, blinds fold. Flop Q-J-10 with two diamonds. I lead 1,300, he raises to 3,800, I fold. He shows pocket queens.
* I should have just check-called this flop because he looked like he wanted to three-bet preflop, and I believed it. I folded to his raise because he was an older gentleman who I thought was capable of just flatting A-K there, and I might be drawing to a chip at best.
3: UTG+2 opens to 1,100, I call from UTG+3 with Qs-10s, CO calls, button calls, SB calls. Flop A-Q-8 with two clubs, and it checks through. Turn 4x, SB leads 3,600, UTG+2 calls, I fold.
4: I open to 1,200 with 10-10 from UTG+1 and everyone folds.
5: I open to 1,200 with 2-2 from UTG and get called by CO and button. Flop K-7-3 with two clubs. I lead 1,800, CO folds, button calls. Turn 4x. Check, check. River 10c. Check, check, and he shows 9-9 and wins.
6: I open Ah-10h UTG+2, hijack calls, CO makes it 3,500 with 30K behind, I fold.
7: UTG limps 500, I limp from CO with 4-3 off-suit, SB completes, and BB checks. Flop Q-5-3 with two diamonds. Blinds check, UTG limper bets 1,200, I call, blinds fold. Turn Ax. UTG limper bets 2,300, I raise to 6,200, he folds quickly.
8: I open to 1,200 with A-Q off-suit three from button and get called by the BB. Flop K-J-9, and it checks through. Turn 8, he leads 1,500, I call. River 8, and it checks through. He shows 10c-9c and wins.
9: UTG+3, I open to 1,200 with Ah-Kh and get called by BB. Flop K-8-6, and he check-folds to my 1,500 C-bet.
10: UTG opens 1K, folds to me in BB, and I defend Jd-8d. Flop 10-6-3 with two clubs, and it goes check, check. Turn Ax, I check, he bets 1K, I raise to 2,800, and he tank-folds.
End of Level 6 — 50,000 in chips
Level 7: 300-600 with 75 ante
11: I open to 1,300 with 7s-6s from CO, button calls, SB three-bets to 3,300, I call, button calls. Flop A-4-3 with two hearts. SB bets 2,600, I fold, button jams 15K, SB folds.
12: I open to 1,300 with K-Q off-suit three from button, CO makes it 3,200, others fold, and I call. Flop 9-4-4 rainbow. I check, he bets 1,500, I call. Turn Q. Check, check. River 2. I bet 2,500, and he calls. I win.
13: Button raises to 1,300, SB calls, I complete from BB with 9d-5d. Flop K-3-3 rainbow. Checks through. Turn K. SB checks, I bet 2,100, button folds, SB calls. River 10x. Check, check, and he shows A-J and wins.
14: Middle position opens for 1,300, I call with 8-8 from CO. Flop J-7-4 rainbow. He checks, and I check. Turn Q. He checks, and I check. River J. He bets 3K, and I call. He has K-Q and wins.
* Results aside, this was pretty bad. I should just bet this flop and not worry about getting check-raised. Turn check is fine, but I should never pay off the river, because he's always playing a queen this way.
15: I limp with 3-3 from middle position after UTG+1 limped. Button limps, SB folds, BB checks. Flop 9h-8h-8x, and I check-fold to the button’s bet and big blind’s call.
16: CO raises to 1,300, button (70-year-old man) calls, I call from BB with Jc-7c. Flop Kc-2c-2x. I check, CO bets 2K, button raises to 5K, I fold, CO folds.
17: I open button to 1,300 with K-7 off-suit, BB defends. Flop K-10-3 with two diamonds, and he check-folds to my 1,700 bet.
18: I open Qd-8d from CO, SB calls, BB three-bets to 4,300, we fold.
19: UTG opens to 1,400, I flat from hijack with 8c-7c, button three-bets to 6K, we fold.
20: I open-raise to 1,300 with 5d-4d three from button, active button makes it 3,200, I flat. Flop A-8-3 with one diamond. I check-call 2,800. Turn is Jd, and it checks through. River Ax, and I lead 3,800. He tank-calls with K-K and I lose. Down to 30K chips.
* I hate bluffing that river card, but I had to give him a chance to fold his air that beats me. I truly think that if the river misses me but isn't another ace, my bet gets him to fold. I just unfortunately ran into the top of his range here.
21: Middle position raises to 1,200, I defend Jd-6d from BB. Flop Ks-8s-7h, and I check-fold.
22: I open with Ad-Jd from middle and all fold.
23: I open with 8d-7d from mid, button calls, tight player with 15K makes it 3,600 from BB, we both fold.
End of Level 7 — 25,200 in chips
Level 8: 400-800 with 100 ante
24: I open-raise to 1,800 with J-10 off-suit from middle position and get called by BB. Flop 9-6-5 with two diamonds, and it checks through. Turn 7x, and it checks through. River 3x, and he leads 2,300. I fold.
25: Middle player opens to 1,700 with 12K stack, I call from BB with Ah-10h. Flop J-3-3 rainbow, and it checks through. Turn J, and it checks through. River 2. I check, he bets 3K, I fold.
26: I open A-Q off-suit to 1,600 from middle, big blind defends. Flop K-10-6 with two clubs. He check-calls 2,100. Turn 8c. He checks, I bet 4K, leaving myself 12.5K behind. I have no club. He tanks forever, then shoves. I fold.
27: I open to 1,600 with Qh-Jh UTG+1 and everyone folds.
28: I open-shove 12BB from UTG+1 with 8-8 and all fold.
29: UTG limps 800 with 14K stack, UTG+1 limps, cutoff limps, SB completes, I check 7-2 off-suit. Five-way hand that checks all the way down. J-9-3-5-7 runout, and my 72o is good enough for a pot that adds nearly 40% to my stack, taking me from 11.5K to nearly 16K.
29: Player three-spots from the button makes it 1,700, I make it 3,800 on the button with 20BB stack, he folds.
30: I open to 1,800 (with 19k stack) with 3-3 three from button. Cutoff and BB call. Flop Kx-Kd-8d. BB checks, I bet 2,100, CO folds, BB calls. Turn Ad. He checks, and I quickly check behind. River 3x. He checks, I bet 3,400, and he folds quickly.
31: Open-raise to 1,800 with A-J off-suit from mid and everyone folds.
32: CO opens to 1,700. He is the most active player at table. I defend A-2 off-suit from BB. Flop Q-3-2 rainbow, and I check-call 2,200. Turn 7d, putting out two diamonds, and I check-call 3,800. River 10x. I check, and he checks. I show, and he says “nice call.” Stack grows to 38.5K.
33: Player three from button opens to 1,700, I three-bet to 4K with red A-J off-suit from the hijack, button cold-calls 4K, original raiser calls. Flop As-7s-4s, and it checks through. Turn 4x. Original raiser checks, I bet 6,500, and they both fold.
* FYI, I had no idea what to do in this hand.
34: UTG raises to 1,600, SB calls, I call 800 more from BB with 3-2 off-suit. Flop 9-7-6. SB checks, I bet 2,900, they both fold.
End of Level 8 — 49,700 in chips
90 Minute Dinner Break
Level 9: 500-1000 with 100 ante
35: I open to 2,300 with K-K from CO, button shoves 14,600, I call. He has Ah-8h. Board runs Qd-10d-4s, turn Ad, river x. I lose.
36: I open to 2,300 with A-Q off-suit from hijack the very next hand, button calls. Flop A-8-6, I bet 2,800, and he folds.
37: I open to 2,300 with A-9 off-suit from cutoff and everyone folds.
38: I open to 2,300 with 10s-8s from hijack, SB three-bets to 6,400, I fold.
39: I open UTG+1 to 2,300 with K-K. Folds to button, who makes it 5,300. I jam for 37K pretty quickly when the action gets back to me to make it look like I have A-K. He calls and shows A-A. Board runs J-x-x-x-x, and I am eliminated from the 2013 WSOP Main Event.
This heartbreaking end concludes my run at the 2013 WSOP Main Event. Thanks for taking this journey with me. While it still hurts to relive these hands, I can rest assured that I played well and had a great time.
If you have any comments or questions on the hands, please post them in the forum thread and reference the hand number so I can easily locate the hand and answer any questions. Good luck on the felt.
This discussion continues in our AVP Forum. Please click HERE to join in and read more!
Hand 1: what do you put him on here that warrants a fold? You said before that you defend your BB pretty light; why are you folding on the river after a c-bet (meaningless on this board), a checked turn J, and a meaningless 2 on the end? Are we only playing hard from the BB if we flop a monster?
Hand 12: I usually hate calling 3-bets with KQ because of the reverse implied odds. Is there a particular reason that you did so in this spot? What did you put him on when he cbet 1500 and you floated? Clearly this is a board that didn't help anybody; were you expecting him to give up on the turn and then we actually made a hand with showdown value?
Hand 25: What do you put him on to fold on the river based on this passive line? This sort of goes with my question on Hand 1: if you're going to defend with AhTh from the BB and the board runs out JJ332 with no aggression until the end, why are we defending in the first place? I think it might be interesting to put in a check-raise in this spot; I don't think he can call without a J, which is very unlikely.
Thanks very much; these play-along posts have been a great learning experience for me.
@VegasBabyVegas
Great questions. Lets dig in!
Hand 1- The flop is fine for me and I'm ok with my check call line. The turn is miserable. It hits a lot of his range. When it goes check check I actually hated it because the jack is a great card for him to bluff and have me fold all under pairs to the ten on board as well as a ten very often. I perceived his turn check as one of tow things- first he is giving up on his bluff nd hoping to check down the hand which is fine. Second he is pot controlling with a bigger ten, a turned jack, or an overpair. He would definitely check all these hands and look to get river value because he doesn't want to get check raised on the turn with a paired board against a player in the blind and face a tough decision. Plus with these hands he can expect to get only two streets of value at most so it's best to be deceptive by checking the turn and trying to get value on the river. Bottom line is that when he checked the turn but be he river I felt like I was at best chopping and likely losing to an overpair or turned jack.
Hand 12- I agree that I wouldn't make a habit of calling three bets from out of position with KQ but this was very situation dependent. The cut off in this hand had been relatively active with three bets and had a propensity to bet the flop and then give up if he missed. My p,an was to check call nearly any flop, check the turn and if he checks to bet the river. It just so happens that I got lucky to hit a queen on the turn because the fact that he called on the river tells me that he likely had a medium pair, pot controlled by checking the turn, but had planned on calling a bet on most rivers.
Hand 25- This one was close. I just felt like if he were bluffing he would have done it sooner and not waited until the river. Looking back I could see calling with ace high as he should only be betting middle pairs for value or hands that can't beat ace high and him needed them to fold. The fact that he only had 12k made me fold because I thought if he was going to bluff it would have been earlier and he wouldn't be risking such a large percent of his stack on a weird river bluff.
Benton, I am curious, and I'm sorry that my curiosity causes you to relive your bustout. I've busted out of tournaments before with KK vs. AA with far fewer big blinds, and my curiosity is to know more about the situation and your opponent, if it's anything you remember.
If I'm doing the math correctly, you had about 40BB entering the hand. I'm not quite conversant enough with the concept of "M" to be able to figure out off the top of my head what your M is here to know what your relevant actions are.
What I'm wondering is, what do you know about the button here, and what does he know about you? I'm thinking that if he's a decent player, he knows you're pretty aggressive. And what does his bet sizing and what he might know about you tell you about his range here? Does any of that ever lead you to finding a fold here with 37BB, or with KK is this action pretty cut-and-dried and just bad luck?
@twriter
I personally don't use "M" but rather use big blinds so I can't really comment on that aspect.
As far as the actual situation- my table image is rather aggressive but nothing crazy. I honestly don't think it factors in much in this situation and I'll explain later. His image is also aggressive and a bit loose, but nothing out of the ordinary. I'd imagine that we both acknowledge that we are both competent decent (maybe even good?) players.
The crux of this hand came down to relative stack sizes and position. While
I had about 38k or so (38bb) my opponent had a little over 100k if I remember correctly. So, my stack won't cripple him by any means if he were to get it in with me and be racing. The most important aspect is the fact that I was an early position raiser. I don't think that he's going to be three betting me light because of my position. Based on this I think his three bet range is likely TT+, AK, and AQ with of course a few other random hands. The reason that I opted to shove was because of his range. I figure that a smaller four bet to 11k or so may turn my hand face up as AA or KK and allow him to correctly fold TT or JJ. I essentially asked myself what I could do that wouldn't make sense for AA or KK to do. I decided to shove because it looks like I'm discouraging action by shoving when I actually welcomed action. My hope was for him to have QQ or JJ (or even AK) and conclude that my shove meant that I had TT-QQ or AK and that he was either way ahead of TT and JJ with QQ or flipping vs those hands if he had AK.
As far as getting away I personally don't think I can, although some great tourney players may be able to. If I click it back to 8500 or so pre and he shoves I can't see me folding. This is mostly because I refuse to turn KK into a bluff by four betting and then folding. If I just call I can't see me folding post flop.
There are many different ways that I could have played this and I'm sure there are better ways than the way I played it but I envision the end result all being the same with me going broke with only 38 bbs.
well put on the KK vs AA hand. I can't see myself ever folding in that spot. I play it the same way trying to get his lower end of the range to call (while knowing you are just screwed with AA). I did something similar during the main when I 3bet shoved 22BBs with KK. A smaller raiser would have looked stronger and I actually got 77 to call when I did it which gave me a crucial double up. Except for the most bizarre situations you shouldn't be in the habit of looking for reasons to fold KK preflop with 50BBs or less.
One thing I notice with all your hands is our different styles preflop. I open call and defend my blinds a lot less. When I do play a hand,I prefer to drive the action and am more prone to 3bet bluff or raise for value then call. I find this helps me narrow ranges better and makes my postflop decisions easier.
I also think this has lot more to do with our differences in the primary games we play of late. I play a lot of 1 table SNGs or turbo MTTs where I'm used to being in the 20-50BB or less range and you play deep stacked cash games. I also generally mix 10-15 tables at once so open calling and defending more would make it harder to play so many tables as effectively.
Of course we both will open raise almost any hand from HJ, CO, button, SB.
Different strokes for different folks.
Oh yeah..
I've been reading this other guy's trip report who busted around the same time (535th) as me. He hasn't even posted day 3 yet and already has had AA dealt to him 5 times. Above all it helps to simply get good cards and avoid coolers. It sux to be coolered by KK vs AA twice in the same tourney. I don't think anyone can overcome that.
On top of that reading your history shows you didn't get a lot of big hands dealt to you. I really didn't get a ton of hands to play with for my style either... I swear most of my chips were acquired with my weakest of hands just finding spots.
I'm ready to play again
Thanks for the feedback Vook! We do have different styles but after reading my hands again I think it's clear that I likely defend too much. I got a text message from a friend today, 2012 WSOP bracelet winner Adam Friedman. Our text is copy pasted below.
AF: Just read the 3rd part of ur 3 part series of ur ME run. Only advice. Stop defending the the BB w shit. Costs too much to do that. Only on day 1 against stone morons who give away their 30k starting stacks do I believe it's a profitable play. Hope Biloxi is treating u well.
My reply: Great advice and thanks for reading. I agree with you 100%. Day one I felt so comfortable with such deep stacks like in a 2/5 cash game where I normally play 300bb deep. I think day 2 all I could see was these near min raises and with the blinds and antes it seemed like such a good price that I was blinded by it. But I see where it's not profitable even with that price when I'm not super deep anymore. Really appreciate the feedback!
Anyway, thought that was pertinent to the topic at hand so I thought I'd share.
I don't think defending light is that much of spew if you're willing to check raise the flop with air and then fire the turn with some frequency. You can also play your weaker made hands more for value, especially against late position raises.
I've been reading The Raiser's Edge by Elky and Tony Dunst and they seem to think defending light is the way to go. The pot odds are usually too good to pass up, especially when there are antes.
100/200/25, 9 handed
9 X 25 = 225 + SB 100+ BB 200 + LP min raise to 400= 825 and it costs 200 to call, noting the fact that you're already in for 200, you're getting better than 4:1 on a call; yes, you will be out of position for the entire hand but LP ranges are so wide anymore that it's hard to pass up this price when you might actually be ahead pre with a hand like K7o or Q4s. Obviously adjustments are necessary when you get down to 20BBs but then you have a great stack to CRAI on dry boards that help no one, or even CRAI for value when you flop top pair (any kicker) or better.
Thank you for posting this series of reports. They have been both helpful and enjoyable to read. Your effort in recording and then reporting on these hands is greatly appreciated.
For Hand 24, did you consider betting after the turn card came in an effort to pick up the pot? What led you to believe a bluff at that point was unlikely to work?
You did not fire a continuation bet after the flop despite being the one who raised before the flop. Was the reason you didn't continuation bet after the flop the same reason you did not try to semi-bluff after the turn?
@timpramas
Great question. The reason I didn't c bet the flop is because that flop hits his defending range a lot more than it hits my raising range. I think he will flop a lot of hands that have either a straight draw, a pair, or a pair plus straight draw. I felt like if I were to bet the flop that id likely need to bet all three streets to represent an overpair and I just wasn't willing to do that on that board. My hope was to check back and make a delayed c bet on any turn that was a ten or higher. When the fourth straight card hit the turn I felt like it would be a pretty transparent bluff if I bet when he checked as he'd expect me to bet all my straight draws on the flop, so based on that he can pretty much eliminate an 8 from my hand for the straight so he can own my soul by check raising me with anything and making me fold. Plus I picked up equity with a nut straight draw and I didn't want to miss out on a chance to make the nuts against the second nuts and double up.
Thanks for the answers to my previous questions. The strategic insight is helpful to me, especially the analysis of hand ranges and how you act based on the opponent's range.
Do you agree with the apparent trend in these tournaments to raise the minimum before the flop as the standard size of the preflop raise? I understand the risk/reward ratio rationale of risking less to win the pot before the flop, but a downside is you you have smaller pots (at least to begin with) when you have good hands (good before the flop or good because your hand connected with the flop).
Should the size of a player's preflop raise be influenced by whether the player thinks s/he plays hands well after the flop? Stated differently, should the size of my preflop raise be influenced by whether I think my opponents are better post-flop players than I am?
Another great question. I personally raise 2.1 or 2.2x as my standard (200/400 I raise to 850 or 900).
I think the weaker your post flop game the more you should raise to pre to create shallower stack to pot ratios. It also will keep them from calling very light to which in turn narrows their range. There are merits to both styles and to each his/her own. I tend to size smaller because I feel my greatest edge is post flop play. It also allows for deeper stack to pot ratios to allow more three and four bets preflop which I'm ok with.